But the even more tragic reality…
Was that he was absolutely right.
If you completely removed Hanzo of the Salamander, the “Demigod of the Shinobi World,” from the equation, Konoha’s military might truly constituted a multi-dimensional suppression of Amegakure in every single field!
This was officially a war between two nations, yet Konoha had only dispatched three relatively inexperienced youths to act as the supreme commanders of their vanguard.
Konoha’s White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, wasn’t deployed.
The Third Hokage, the so-called “God of Shinobi” Hiruzen Sarutobi, didn’t march either.
As for Konoha’s absolute nuclear deterrent, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Mito Uzumaki, she remained peacefully within the village walls.
Calculating it objectively…
to deal with Amegakure, Konoha had likely mobilized less than a third of its total military power…
“In truth, after completely wiping out Suna’s covert Puppet Brigade, the village initially drafted a strategic proposal to launch an immediate counter-invasion into the Land of Wind.” “But I heard that Lord Third vehemently rejected the proposal despite the war council’s demands.” “After all, Sunagakure is still one of the Five Great Nations.
Pushing an offensive deep into a desert environment is logistically disastrous and doesn’t align with the village’s long-term strategic interests.” Nomura spilled everything he knew like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube, holding absolutely nothing back.
“But this brutal stalemate with the Land of Rain has dragged on for over a year.
The village’s financial reserves are bleeding dry.
I heard rumors that the upper echelons have been looking for alternative avenues to recoup the horrific economic losses…” And what exactly did “alternative avenues” mean in the context of war?
It was painfully simple.
Land, resources, and human capital…
Amegakure was a completely unique political anomaly.
Other hidden villages operated under the “One Nation, One Village” system, where major decisions were jointly governed by the ruling Daimyo and the Kage.
Furthermore, the Daimyos of the ninja world were an incredibly bizarre, deeply interconnected web of aristocratic royalty, heavily bound by marriage and bloodline politics.
Therefore, even if a Great Nation’s hidden village suffered a catastrophic defeat…
out of respect for the Daimyo, the victorious side would, at most, force them to sign a humiliating treaty, pay reparations, and cede a percentage of their mission market share.
Aside from the shinobi bleeding out on the battlefield, the nobles at the top would retain their status and save enough face to carry on…
But the Land of Rain had only one absolute ruler!
And that was Hanzo of the Salamander!
If Amegakure fell, the entire nation fell with it!
The Land of Rain was like a prime cut of meat.
It wasn’t as bloated or massive as the Five Great Nations, but it was perfectly bite-sized, easy to swallow, and extremely easy to digest…
“According to the rumors, the ultimate objective Elder Danzo set for this counter-offensive is…” Nomura nervously glanced at the three Anbu standing over him, but eventually decided honesty was his only chance at survival.
“…To march straight to the capital of the Land of Rain, strip Amegakure of every single resource it possesses, and ensure that they cannot rise again for at least a decade…” The moment those words hung in the air…
The expressions of the three Rain Anbu instantly darkened.
Fortunately, thanks to their demon masks, Nomura couldn’t see their faces.
Ayane’s fingers twitched slightly.
She asked coldly, “Are you finished?” Nomura swallowed hard, sensing an ominous shift in the atmosphere.
Damn it!
I shouldn’t have added that last sentence!
Relying on the brief respite he gained while spilling the intel, he had secretly managed to extract a small reserve of chakra.
But to play it safe, he desperately tried to stall for a few more seconds.
“No, wait, there’s more—” “If you’re finished, it’s time to hit the road.” Ayane didn’t give him another chance to speak.
Her hands blurred through hand seals with blistering speed.
The girl puffed out her cheeks, immediately unleashing a preemptive Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.
Whooooosh!
The fierce gale tore through the canopy, causing the leaves to rustle violently.
The rainwater pooled on the branches was blown off entirely, crashing down like a localized torrential downpour.
Nomura frantically pushed himself backward to dodge the blast.
But through the chaos, he saw the red-haired Anbu weaving seals again.
Fast!
Way too fast!
Nomura desperately wanted to launch a counterattack to interrupt her casting.
But he was just an ordinary man made of flesh and blood.
He didn’t possess a genetic cheat code like the Sharingan, nor did he possess the monstrous, unnatural reflexes of someone like Minato Namikaze.
By the time his brain finally processed the command to move…
Ayane had already flawlessly completed the four required hand seals!
Water Style: Water Trumpet!
The torrential rainwater falling through the air was instantly hijacked and condensed, forming several long, whipping tendrils of high-pressure water that lashed downward at him.
Nomura scrambled desperately, dodging left and right through the barrage.
But Woodpecker ruthlessly exploited his panic, aggressively closing the distance to engage him in close quarters.
Pinned down by Woodpecker and battered by the water whips, Nomura was stretched too thin.
He couldn’t maintain his defense for long, and a kunai swiftly found its mark, ending his life.
[Assisted in killing a Tokubetsu Jonin!] [Achievement Points +199!] Ayane completely ignored the prompt that popped up on her panel.
Instead, she calmly walked forward and drove her kunai directly into the dead man’s skull, thoroughly destroying his brain to prevent Konoha’s intelligence division from extracting any residual memories from his corpse.
“Absolute paranoia is a shinobi’s finest virtue.” The seasoned veteran Woodpecker voiced his high approval of her ruthless thoroughness, not missing the opportunity to lecture Eagle.
“You need to learn a thing or two from Swan.” Eagle completely ignored him.
Instead, she eagerly crouched down next to the corpse, meticulously rummaging through Nomura’s ninja pouch while humming a happy tune.
“I think looting the bodies is a much better virtue!” Seeing that she was actually being quite careful with her search, Woodpecker didn’t scold her further.
“Your chakra control is incredibly refined,” Woodpecker noted, turning his head to look at Ayane, his tone filled with genuine amazement.
“I have a feeling the B-rank Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu would suit your combat style perfectly.” Woodpecker had to admit it.
This young girl, Ayane Amamiya, who had literally just graduated from the Academy, perfectly satisfied every single fantasy he had ever held regarding the concept of a ‘prodigy.’ From the moment he met her at the Academy…
Every time he thought he had finally grasped the ceiling of her capabilities, she casually revealed a brand new, blindingly brilliant facet of her talent.
This girl was so extraordinarily gifted…
That sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder: Did Lord Hanzo, the Demigod of the Shinobi World, even display this level of terrifying potential at her age?
The Water Trumpet was a very basic, C-rank Water Style jutsu.
The standard execution merely involved spitting a high-pressure stream of water from the mouth to blast an opponent.
Yet Ayane had managed to manually manipulate the external morphology of the water mid-cast, transforming the stream into whipping tendrils…
It was a terrifying testament to her microscopic chakra control!
Ayane let out a vague “Mm,” smoothly deflecting the topic.
Are you kidding me?
Her chakra control and perception of natural energy were officially certified by her system panel!
Do you have any idea how much weight the supreme Prismatic Trait [Outlander] carries?!
“Let’s focus on transmitting the intel about Konoha’s impending counter-invasion first,” Ayane said, steering the conversation back to the crisis at hand.
“If we can leak this back to headquarters, they might be able to use the intel to set a trap and ambush the Leaf vanguard.” Of course…
Despite saying that, she already knew the ultimate outcome of this specific battle.
Woodpecker nodded grimly.
His hands flew through seals before he slammed his palm onto the ground.
Summoning Jutsu!
The black runic formulas spread rapidly across the dirt…
And then, absolutely nothing happened.
He froze, confusion flashing across his eyes beneath his mask.
He rapidly repeated the entire summoning sequence.
The exact same result.
Nothing.
“What’s wrong?” Ayane asked.
“Something’s happened,” Woodpecker replied, his voice suddenly sounding incredibly dry and strained.
“I…
I can’t summon the Owl…” The Owl was the shared summoning beast bound to their specific Anbu squad.
Although the primary contract scroll was held securely by Captain Night Raven, as a veteran member of Team Owl, Woodpecker had long since inscribed his name onto the contract in blood, granting him full summoning privileges.
Eagle trotted over from the corpse.
First, she eagerly shoved a massive stack of scavenged explosive tags into Ayane’s hands like a child presenting a prize to her favorite big sister.
Then, she asked in confusion, “What does that mean?” “It means that either the Captain has already summoned the Owl and is currently locked in a desperate battle…” Woodpecker’s voice grew incredibly hoarse.
“…Or the Captain is dead!” !!!
The atmosphere in the clearing instantly plunged into a dead, suffocating silence.
Captain Night Raven had literally marched straight toward the heavily fortified Amegakure main encampment to ‘reinforce’ Lord Hanzo.
From any logical, tactical perspective…
staying behind on the perimeter to hunt down elite Konoha infiltration squads should have been infinitely more dangerous…
Yet, the very first person to go completely dark…
was Night Raven!
A creeping sense of dread seized Eagle’s heart.
Not daring to dwell on the horrifying implications, she frantically turned her gaze to Ayane.
“What do we do now?!” Ayane took a slow, deep breath.
Without her even realizing it, she had seamlessly become the absolute shot-caller of this fragmented Anbu cell.
“We do everything in our power, and leave the rest to fate.” She cast a quiet glance toward Shizuki’s body, lying broken in the mud.
Time was incredibly tight.
They didn’t even have the luxury to properly transport her remains back to the village.
Ayane could only use her chakra blade to hastily carve out a shallow grave in the earth, burying her former classmate.
And she couldn’t help but wonder…
Aside from her, how many other children from her Academy class would end up sleeping eternally in the muddy forests along the Anyue River today?
“The Konoha shinobi are trying to swallow the Land of Rain whole.” The young girl’s voice turned chillingly detached.
“I can only hope that when they birthed that ambition…
they also prepared themselves for the absolute certainty of their own deaths!”